Beyond the Darkness

49. We Are Family

Sasha was up early the next morning. She hoped that Harry would be too, but when she orbed to check on him, he was still sleeping. And so was Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Dean. Disappointed and anxious, she orbed back down to Severus, who was waiting for her.

"Well?" he asked.

"Still sleeping." Sasha sighed. "It's ridiculous that I am this nervous about revealing this to him. I shouldn't be."

Severus smiled. "I would be."

She frowned. "What if he doesn't believe me? The only proof I had was in Godric's Hollow with me that night. I burned the rest of the papers in your fireplace, afraid Voldemort would find out."

"Huh. I wondered why, when I went back to find you, that the manila folder you'd been carrying was empty."

"I panicked," she said with a chuckle.

"I did too," Severus admitted. "Especially when I couldn't find you. I just knew something awful had happened. As it turns out, I was right."

"Tell me about it," Sasha declared, a flashback running through her head. "I died."

"Don't remind me. That was the worst day of my life. I literally died with you. A part of me anyway. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought I would ever see you again."

"I'm not that easy to kill."

"Good."

They both laughed.

Sasha stopped suddenly, a frown creasing her forehead.

"Uh oh," Severus stated. "What is it?"

"Harry is up I think."

He frowned. "How can you tell?"

"I just had this huge overwhelming feeling of sadness," Sasha answered quietly. "Should I go now? Or give him time to get up and get dressed for the feast?"

Severus shrugged. "That's your call. I'll be here for you afterward."

She smiled at him. "Thank you so much. I'm going to go right now."

"Good luck," he told her.

Sasha orbed from the office and straight to the Gryffindor common room. Harry was sitting on the couch in front of a roaring fire. Tears stained his cheeks. Sasha sat down beside him.

"How are you feeling today, Harry?" she asked gently.

He didn't look up at her when he answered, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Great. I feel great. Normal year this year. Nothing bad at all happened." He turned to her, his eyes narrowed angrily. "How do you think I bloody feel? I just lost the only family I had left last night."

"I think you're very sad," Sasha said carefully. "I can sense that you are. That's how I knew you were awake."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I just- I'm so angry. Sirius died and it's all my fault."

"What do you mean?"

"I should have never gone to save you. If I hadn't, the Order wouldn't have had to come and he would have never died."

"It's not your fault, Harry," Sasha told him firmly. "If it's anyone's it's mine. I shouldn't have allowed myself to get kidnapped like that."

Harry gaped at her. "It's not your fault, Sasha. You're not psychic. You couldn't have known he was waiting in your office for you or that he was about to take you into a circle of Death Eaters and Darklighters. You didn't stand a chance."

"You saw me in one of your dreams, didn't you?" She knew the answer was yes. It was the only way he could have known about all of that.

"Yes. That's why I knew I had to go and save you. I told Professor Snape and he went to the Order. But I didn't think there was time. I should have trusted him. I tried to use the Floo Network in Umbridge's office but she caught us." Harry went into great detail about how Hermione had led her on a wild goose chase just to keep her from using the Cruciatus Curse on him. Then they had been on their way back once the centaurs came and took care of Umbridge when the others came running up. "At first I was going to go at it alone, but they wouldn't have it. 'Dumbledore's Army was supposed to be about something real,' they said. So we all went to the Ministry. I wasn't going to let you die, Sasha. You're like family to me. But when we got in the Department of Mysteries, you weren't there. I couldn't find you. Who was the man who kidnapped you? What did he want?"